We’re also in negotiations to turn over our 8-unit apartment complex to a management company! We’ve decided to give it a try for a year and we’re really impressed with their commitment and professionalism so far. It’s helped us keep a longer term focus now on our real estate investments. We could just sell all our rental properties, but we’ll give this a try – unless we get a good offer!

We’ve definitely been busy! And we’ve been busier than we anticipated because we can’t find people to hire to help us do some work! So we’ve been forced to DIY many projects even though we have money to spend.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not rolling in $$$ right now! I get paid for the last time this Friday and that is stressful enough for someone who has been earning paychecks for 35 years… But we knew we were going to need to spend money fixing up parts of our house to get it ready to sell and on the remodel of the lake house.

Prepping to Sell

We live on a dead-end street that backs up to a 23 acre park and we’re walking distance to the school where I worked. It’s a GREAT street – close to everything, but super quiet too. And we have an in-ground pool. Summer is definitely the time to sell our house. And with both kids off to college by late August, we’d like to get the house on the market by the end of July.

It’s a great street for young families – if they haven’t watched too much HGTV…

We only have an “eat-in” kitchen and there is no master bath. But we do have two bathrooms! No granite counter tops here – but beautiful solid-surface ones (that are super durable and easy to clean) with an integrated sink that I love! And we live in a split-level that turns some people off. We love it because even in a small house, we have a huge extra living room with a nice gas stove.

The target market for our house is a young couple/family and that requires things to be turn-key ready. People who are getting a first mortgage usually can’t afford to change out flooring or do bathroom or kitchen upgrades. The flooring is the last big thing in the house that needs to be done (except for more painting…) but we have a few outside issues to address too.

The guy we use to install carpet in our rentals is booked through mid-July, so timing should be good to have him re-carpet the downstairs. We also got a quote on refinishing the hardwoods but that would require us to leave home for 2+ days and empty 3 bedrooms and the living room to somewhere? And it’s expensive ($2500+ for about 750 s.f.) YIKES…what a hassle!

We are going to rent a sander tomorrow and try to refinish one bedroom and see how it goes. In a 1400 sf house, most of the floor space is covered anyway with beds, couches, desks…and area rugs! I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Mr. MSD has also replaced a tub/shower unit and he may have to put down a deck on our front porch because the stamped concrete is starting to crumble. It’s too late to go after the concrete contractor, but it’s been hard to find someone to build the deck too! We’d spend money hiring this out to save time and to make sure it is up to code.

Luckily we’ve been able to hire a friend who is a licensed electrician to address a “crackling” noise on a light switch. My husband can do basic electrical repair, but it’s always safety first. DIY is definitely not a smart decision if you could get hurt (or hurt someone else – or burn down your house!)

Prepping to sell can be exhausting! In addition to the basics, we are trying to address anything a home inspector might find that would reduce the price or slow down the sale. We’ve loved and lived in our house for over 10 years. Almost every surface needs a little extra TLC.

Gutting the Lake House (isn’t that an awesome view?)

I’m going to write a separate post about the lake house and where things stand. It is a MUCH bigger job than getting our house ready for sale. But what I can tell you is that it has been a lot harder than we thought to get a general contractor – or any contractor for that matter!

If we can get a contractor to return a call, we always let them know the house is a “gut job” so they know it will take time and money and isn’t just a repair. We also tell them we are in the process of selling our house, so they know we are serious about getting the house move-in ready.

But it’s a 1000 s.f. house and if demand for their work is high, our little house isn’t high on their list of priorities either… It’s a good thing we have a lot of friends and connections to keep giving us names of contractors to call!

This NPR article from last fall explains that the housing crash 7 or 8 years ago contributed to the failure of many contracting businesses and even though there is a lot of work now, there just aren’t the numbers of skilled tradespeople or contractors available to fill the construction or home renovation needs in most areas.

As an educator, it also concerns me greatly that we have pushed all kids to go to college when they might not be ready for that or really have an interest. Don’t get me wrong, I think that an advanced education is important for everyone and tradespeople and contractors need advanced skills too. But it doesn’t make sense for young people to take on debt and sit in English 101 (or remedial reading/math – which many have to take) when they are 18 or 19 when they could be learning a trade that could drive their future. Once they can see their future a little more clearly, college classes can take on a whole new meaning!

There are jobs waiting for people and no one skilled or interested enough to take them. Good contractors in our area can charge what they want and people will hire them. We need to make that message clear to our young people too.

We have another meeting with a contractor tonight, so our fingers are crossed! Our back-up plan is to rent a house on the lake this fall for a few months (if our house sells), to give us time to get the house finished – even if we have to DIY more than we want too!

Maybe we could hire some retired PF blogger as a contractor? We live on a beautiful lake (with many more surrounding lakes), with more than 100 local wineries and a bunch of craft breweries! We could even rent a lake house for the contractor to stay in for a month during the gorgeous fall with the leaves changing all around the lake! It could be a really fun job!

Maybe it’s not a crazy idea for the right person…

Have you done any home remodeling jobs lately? Have you had trouble hiring out jobs or finding contractors? What jobs do you DIY and what won’t you touch? Are you a contractor who wants to hang out in the Finger Lakes in New York State to make some money and have some fun too? 🙂

Whether you’re a little bit countryor alittle bit rock-n-roll* – you probably enjoy live summer concerts or checking out bands at pubs or music festivals as much as we do! We even get to enjoy some big shows at a performing arts center in our town each summer!

But when my son asked about going to his second concert this summer, I thought about the idea of a summer concert budget and decided that we may all need to think about this! How can we support local bands or see our favorite groups live in concert without busting our budget?

We need to make smarter decisions by finding a balance between living for today and investing in our future!

So why are so many of us waiting by the computer when tickets are released to the best summer concerts each year? (Especially when the only seats that come up are in the sections furthest from the stage – if we even get the option to buy any seats?!) Here are a few reasons why we keep searching for tickets as we try to live for today…

1) Having Fun. Whether you’re with family or friends, you get to spend hours together having a good time. And if you are tailgating, you will probably make many new friends too! And do you ever see sad or angry people in concert pictures on social media? Didn’t think so!

2) Connecting and Respecting. Maybe you’ve been listening to a band for years. You may enjoy simply connecting with the band and their music and respecting what they do. Just being there and experiencing the music makes the night for you.

3) Making Memories. I remember my first concert (Chicago) and I bet you do to. There are so many things in life we struggle to remember, but we remember music and songs like nothing else and we easily connect them to experiences like concerts. (Ever sing karaoke? That will certainly leave you with some lasting memories too!)

4) Escaping. It certainly makes sense why people head to the nearest concert venue whenever they can! With all the negativity on the news and with people under stress from their jobs and busy lives, seeing your favorite group (or any group) can help you get away from it all – even for just a few hours…

5) Enjoying Something Old & New. In the last few years, we have headed out to see a few of our favorite groups who sadly may not be performing much longer. We don’t want to have regrets about bands we never got to see in person. But we also try to make a point to catch some new local groups throughout the year too.

But what can we do to help make sure that our balanced approach to the “rockstar fix” we need each year doesn’t break the bank? Here are a few ideas we have used throughout the years that allow us to keep investing in our future while still enjoying the sounds of summer!

1) Start a concert calendar. Even when the snow’s still flying here in NY, we enjoy thinking about our summer concert plans! We make a list of the artists we’d like to see and pencil in the options we have to catch their shows.

2) Increase your entertainment budget for summer months. If you know that you have overspent in the “summer entertainment” category, be proactive! And if you don’t do a budget – consider creating a concert fund. Put extra money from holidays or birthdays in your fund so that you are all set for summer fun! And if you are really into music, you might even consider an extra side hustle during the year to fund that music habit!

3) Consider waiting to buy tickets. If you know a group will sell out and you just have to go see them, buy your tickets. If not, consider waiting to find tickets closer to the date of the concert. Things can change over a few months and you may end up losing money on your tickets if you have to sell them. We all think about “sell-outs” but you can usually find tickets to meet your needs. Just make sure you know your upper price limit – and stick to it.

4) Check the original ticket vendor or with the concert venue itself. We’ve learned to go back to the original ticket vendor and often there are seats that become available as the concert approaches. We purchased seats to the last two concerts we went to this way and had we bought them on the secondary online market, we would have paid inflated prices.

(Note: We don’t use Craigslist for concert tickets because of safety and scamming concerns. We know people who have done that, but we’ll pay a little extra for peace of mind and some form of credit card protection the online ticket sellers provide.)

5) Head to the venue and look for someone selling tickets. We have never done this, but we know people who do this for almost every concert they attend. If you are OK with any seats (and seats that aren’t together), this may be a great way to save money. But you also have to be prepared that you may not get tickets at all. And it is also illegal in many places.

6) Skip the big name concerts and support local bands and music festivals. If your budget doesn’t support paying for big priced tickets and all the extras, spend some time checking out local musicians. For the cost of a drink or dinner, you are helping people who put in a lot of time pursuing their passion or side gig. And don’t forget to toss them a few bucks too – along with your bartender or server.

7) Choose one special music event. We don’t give each other birthday or anniversary presents but we do pick out one “destination concert” each year. We focus our efforts on a finding a fun location with a concert to attend. This year we spent four days in Gulf Shores, Alabama and caught a Jimmy Buffett concert. A little sun, some beach time, and a bunch of awesome people – we’ll take experiences over “stuff” anytime!

8) Just say no. This is certainly easier said than done – but if you are carrying a lot of debt or if you have financial goals that you are determined to meet, it might be best to just say no. Try going to free music events and search out friends who’ll join you. Just remember that a $50 concert seat can easily turn into a $100 night of partying. And if you do that a few times, you’ll have another headache when you look at your bank statement or credit card bill…

So did you catch the song lyric* in the first sentence? I thought some of you did! If not, your probably too young!(And we’ll see if someone shares the artists’ names in the comments!) That lyric really dates some of us – and reminds us of Friday nights…

Just remember that summer concerts and all the extra costs, or even hanging around a local pub to hear music can become an expensive line item in your monthly budget. We have decided that 1-2 major concerts and around 10 local pub visits to hear music each year is enough to keep us balanced and content so that we are living for today, but not losing our focus on future investments!

What was your first concert? And have you had a concert calendar so full that it busted your budget? Why do you go to see live music when you can stream it, download it, or listen to the radio? And if you don’t go out and listen to music or go to concerts, why not? Is your smart decision taking the money the rest of us spend on summer concert experiences and investing it?

I was a competitive swimmer, lifeguard, swim instructor, and swim coach for more than 20 years. If you are looking for someone to advocate for people learning to swim and safely enjoy their time around the water – you’ve found the right person! But as a homeowner with a pool, I want to share what we have learned over the last 11 years. My hope is that if you are considering purchasing or installing a pool, or if you are looking to buy a house with a pool – that our experiences will help you make a smarter decision.

If you are a pool owner, don’t leave yet! I know I have missed things – and your experiences in different locations and with different kinds of pools will also help any reader who is ready to “jump in” to pool ownership! Or maybe you just have a funny story or poolside drink recipe to share! Feel free to join in the fun!

Let’s jump in to what we’ve learned in the last 11 years!

1) Costs – This may seem like a no-brainer, but creating a list of costs related to pool ownership will really open your eyes. I’m not going to give specific figures on costs because they will vary based on the type of pool, and your location and situation. Here is a list of every item we have spent money on related to our pool:

And some people get slides or diving boards, heaters or enclosures, or they spring for new deck furniture and build fancy pool houses with tiki bars and TV’s.

And let’s not forget the cost of the water (and adding water occasionally) and for many – the cost of the pool itself (and installation). And then there is liability insurance to consider too…

Some of these items only cost a few dollars, but some cost thousands of dollars (or more!) We love our pool, but don’t go into pool ownership only thinking about pool parties and lazy summer days in the sun.

Pools are expensive and if someone tells you different, they probably have a boat they’d like to sell you too.

2) Safety – This is more important than anything else I can write. With a pool, you will have kids, neighbors, families, and friends visiting to have fun. You may be labeled the “big jerk” but HAVE RULES and ENFORCE THEM – 100% of the time. And have someone who can swim (preferably trained as a lifeguard) watching the pool at all times. No phones – no other distractions – no exceptions. I could have drowned when I was 2 if it wasn’t for the fast action of my brother and a lifeguard. It happens much faster than you think.

Safety first. Always. Enough said.

3) Maintenance – Don’t confuse your pool with a lake or pond. They both have water, but pools do not take care of themselves (and if you don’t put the time in to properly maintaining your pool, it will look like a pond before you know it!) If you don’t understand the difference between chlorine or bromine, and you don’t know how to lower the pH, or control algae growth – you will spend a lot of time (and loads of money) at the local pool store.

Of course you could pay someone to maintain it too – and I should probably add that to the list of potential costs above! Just remember you’ll probably need to monitor the maintenance person too. They won’t show up every day (or even every week) in many cases, so you will need to learn something about pool maintenance.

Having a big birthday party next to a slimy green pool is no fun. And neither is swimming in a pool where the chemicals will eat through your suit. It takes WORK to maintain a pool.

4) Purpose – Why do you want a pool? If you consider all the costs, it is certainly worth the time to write out some reasons (deeper thinking you know) as to why you want a pool or think you need a pool. Is it so the kids can have fun? And how often could they use it? Or are you going to use it to teach them to swim? Can you swim? Maybe you will use it for exercising? Will your family, friends, and neighbors come visit? Or do they have their own pools?

Having clarity around why you want a pool will help you make a smarter decision about getting one (or buying a house with one).

You can’t easily “undo” a pool (or the purchase of a house with one).

5) Location – Where you live and the “days of possible use” is really important when considering a pool. We live in the Northeast where we can use our pool (without a heater) about 100 days a year. That’s less than 1/3 of the year for all of the expenses related to the pool. If you live in a warm climate, you will likely have more expenses related to chemicals/maintenance but you will probably get more use out of it too. Be realistic – our 100 days are often nowhere near 100 days of usable pool time.

We had friends who calculated the cost per use of their boat one summer. Then they sold their boat. Your pool may turn into a big boat docked in your back yard. Have you heard the joke about what BOAT stands for – Bring Out Another Thousand! POOL could have its own joke. Haven’t come up with that yet…

6) Lifestyle – What are your weeks like? Weekends? Do you work all week or are your kids in school? Are you off at activities in the evening or at family events on the weekend? Do you enjoy traveling? What will you do with the pool when you aren’t around? Does your lifestyle and interest in all kinds of activities align with having and using a pool?

We know people who own a camper, a boat, who go on vacation for a few weeks each summer, and they have a pool.

Pools are a lot like cats. They can go a little while without a lot of attention – but ignore a cat and they might rebel. Your pool will rebel – and it will take a lot longer to repair the damage than it will take to win back over your cat…

7) Future – Think about what your life will be like in ten years. When we bought our house the kids were 9 and 6. The kids were in the pool a lot when they were young and we hosted fun swim parties for their soccer and baseball teams.

But eleven years later, the kids are busy with jobs and their friends and they enjoy the pool only a few times each summer. And this is normal. We still enjoy the pool because we are home a lot in the summer, but it definitely doesn’t get the use it did years ago. Your time with your pool will probably have a life cycle. Know where you are in the cycle and figure out if it still makes sense for you.

Pools can provide a place to make great memories! But you can make great memories at other places and doing other things too.

So are we happy we bought a house with a pool? We sure are. Did we know all the costs? Not at all – and we ended up spending thousands (and thousands) of dollars to rehab the pool a couple of years after we moved in to the house. We had to use a lot of savings to do this because we didn’t have a good plan at all. And we ended up replacing the filter and pump a few years later. And then the winter cover.

If you have a pool, it’s always something – and you need to budget for it.

POOL – Pull Out Our Line (of credit)?

I’ll post a follow-up next week to explain how we save money maintaining our pool. Mr. MSD gets most of the credit for the sparkling pool, but I take care of the chemical testing. I have the easy job 😉

Do you have a pool or did you have one growing up? Can you add to the list of costs or any of the lessons I shared? Have you looked at houses with pools and decided against them? How does a pool affect property values or limiting the pool of potential buyers for a house? Any other ideas for what POOL could mean?

Disclaimer

Note: Ideas and opinions on MakeSmarterDecisions.com are simply the results of my own experiences, and they are not intended to advise or offend. MakeSmarterDecisions.com should be viewed and shared for educational and entertainment purposes only. My posts are based on my personal experiences, and all readers should consider consulting a professional or specialist in a given area (financial, retirement, real estate, etc.) before making any decisions.
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